Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing Company has closed on the sale of its 50% stake in Santa Rosa, California-based Moonlight Brewing Company to Patrick Rue, the founder of Orange County’s The Bruery and owner of Erosion Wine Co. in St. Helena, California.
Lagunitas announced the close on the sale of its stake in the business today. Moonlight founder Brian Hunt will retain his 50% ownership stake in the business.
“We had a mutually enjoyable partnership but decided, with input from our national distributor partners, to focus on the potential of our core beer brands and new exciting innovations, Lagunitas CEO Dennis Peek said in a press release.
Lagunitas acquired its stake in Moonlight in 2017 in a twin deal that also bought it a share in Austin, Texas-headquartered Independence Brewing. At the time, Lagunitas – which was then only 50% owned by Heineken USA – had created a new corporate entity to hold those ownership stakes, Lagunitas U.S. Holdings (LUSH).
LUSH also acquired Charleston, South Carolina-based Southend Brewery to convert into a Lagunitas-branded taproom, but building repairs proved too costly and the project was abandoned, the Post and Courier reported in early 2018.
Lagunitas is less than one year removed from paring down its portfolio to focus on its IPAs, non-alcoholic offerings and hard tea brand Disorderly Tea House.